What are anglicisms and language calques?
When we start using a foreign language every day, after some time we may notice something interesting: our first language starts to sound stiff, and we begin using words and expressions that do not sound natural in Polish at all.
The same happens when we speak a foreign language and make so-called mistakes, using expressions that are correct in one language but not in another. These are called language calques (language transfer).
In the case of forms taken from English, these will be called anglicisms, or more broadly, language calques from English.
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In what situations will we hear anglicisms and language calques from English?
Have you recently heard people in an office talking about minutes from meetings? Minutes?!
Of course, this is a borrowing from the English word minutes, meaning notes or a report from a meeting.
Or perhaps you have heard someone say they kept a stiff upper lip? In English, that does not mean a literal lip at all.
Of course, this is again a calque from an English idiom, a phrase that should not be translated word for word, keep the stiff upper lip, which expresses the ability to stay calm and composed in a difficult situation, or, more positively, to keep one’s dignity and cool under pressure.
And the crime scene in detective stories? In English we say crime scene, and this expression is becoming more and more familiar in translations of TV series.
Are anglicisms, language calques and borrowings from English all the same thing?
Borrowings, language calques and anglicisms are part of our everyday language, even if we do not always notice them.
These terms are similar, but they do not mean exactly the same thing:
- Borrowings are words taken from another language and used in their original form, like minutes.
- Language calques are words translated literally, for example skyscraper becomes “drapacz chmur” in Polish.
- If these words come from English, they are called anglicisms.
See also: How can you complain in English?
Are anglicisms and language calques from English always bad?
Not necessarily. Language borrowings (neologisms) do not have to be “wrong.”
Anglicisms are common in specialist vocabulary, especially in:
- science and technology (flash, computer, container),
- sport (out, doping, or match, which in the 1930s was still written as match),
- cultural vocabulary (bestseller, pub, rock’n’roll),
- economics (businessman, broker, sponsor),
- fashion (jeans, clips),
- health vocabulary (fitness, jogging, peeling),
- food (cheeseburger, chips, fast food),
- and everyday life (diapers, happy ending, marker, weekend).
In this way, anglicisms quietly help us learn English!
Anglicisms and language calques from English do not have to be something bad. In fact, before you even start learning English, you may already know dozens – if not hundreds – of English words!
Language transfer in whole grammar structures
We copy not only single words, but also whole grammar structures. For example, the Polish He seems clever, under the influence of English (or more generally Germanic syntax) he seems to be clever, sometimes gains an extra word: he seems to be clever.
Read also: The most popular English names and why Poles are no geese. (coming soon)
Anglicisms change the meaning of native words
English also changes the meaning of Polish words.
For example, “mouse” used to mean only a rodent, but thanks to computer mouse it entered the digital age.
Similarly, the word “project” used to mean only a plan or technical drawing (the English equivalent is design), but under the influence of English project, the Polish word gained an additional meaning: an undertaking or an intention.
Or perhaps your IT specialist said you need to “address this problem” (to address the problem), meaning to do something about the situation?
Filmmakers also started to say “picture” instead of “film” with enthusiasm (in English picture can mean both a painting and a film – also an anglicism, just an older one), which is additionally an interesting “production” (English production, meaning simply a film in Polish).
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And what does Prof. Miodek say about it?
Are anglicisms something we should cry over? Prof. Miodek, the best-known Polish linguist, thinks the opposite: these anglicisms and language calques enrich the language:
„Nie ma słów niepotrzebnych językowi. W tym sensie jestem i za „wow”, i za „super”, i za „ekstra”, czy za „odjazdem”, „odlotem”, „cool” i „jazzy”. Całe zło zaczyna się w momencie, gdy ktoś, uczepiwszy się takiego modnego słowa, rezygnuje z całego wachlarza konstrukcji wariantywnych*.
In short, we can relax and let those worries go.
Do language calques also exist in English?
On the other hand, this is not only a Polish phenomenon. People everywhere do this. English itself is the best example!
English is such a mix of borrowings and language calques that, according to some researchers, it does not even deserve to be called a separate language; in their view, English is a creole, a blend of different languages, as the chart nearby shows: most words come from Latin, French and Germanic languages (source: Wikipedia).
And although English is now the world’s lingua franca, an international language that strongly influences other languages, the influence still goes both ways.
Language calques… in English
One example is the word robot, which, interestingly, comes from Czech – it was invented by the Czech science-fiction writer Karel Čapek to describe artificial people who could do the work for us.
Unfortunately, nobody has yet invented a robot that could learn English for us.
But fortunately, there is the Speakingo course!
How can you avoid language mistakes when learning English?
These kinds of language calques and anglicisms can create many problems when learning structures that are different in the second language – that is why Speakingo has so many sentences with conditionals, which are formed differently in English than in Polish – but do not worry, by repeating sentences from Speakingo like a child, you will learn to speak correctly without even thinking about it!
All the work now is about building a new habit. And this is not something you can simply “understand in theory”, just as you cannot learn to ride a bike from a book!
To protect yourself from mistakes caused by repeating language calques, we need to practise English structures again and again.
On the Speakingo course, this is done in the best possible way, that is, with your mouth and not only with your eyes. You talk to the computer like to a teacher, who praises you, corrects you when needed, and never loses patience!
It is not only a fast and effective way to learn English, but also an enjoyable one!
In fact, see for yourself. Sign up with two clicks below and learn this method of overcoming language calques for one week completely free and without any commitment!
English will not learn itself!
Sign up for the online English course Speakingo!
* quote from: Jestem za „ekstraodlotem”– wywiad z prof. Janem Miodkiem. „Słowo Polskie; Gazeta Wrocławska”. Sobota, 24 lutego, 2007. Anna Fluder (Radio RAM) i Jacek Antczak. Wrocław
And what are your favourite anglicisms and language calques? Share them in the comments!
